Globalization: Literature Review

Abstract

In this literature review, I will be highlighting perspectives of globalization in relation to differences in migration, technology, and creative development of various cultures. Authors Chung, Delacruz, Gaoian, Gaudelius, Steers, Price, Kim, Wang, Kuo, Marshall, Weida, and Parks recounted in this analysis contribute to the theories of the impact that globalization has on assimilation, technocapitalism, and artistic output of a variety of cultures. This literature review more specifically explores the various connections between artistic development and globalization through the collection of case studies, narrative essays, analyses, and research from various scholars within Elizabeth Delacruz’s Globalization, Art, & Education. The conclusion of this literature review values the cultural practices locally, regionally, and internationally of the 21st century, and creating new paradigms for a globally-conscious future.

Summary

According to Delacruz, the concept of globalization includes “those fundamental global transformations of human societies brought about by transnational expansion, integration, and interdependency of human social networks and flows of resources, goods, ideas, and culture” (p. xi, 2011). Globalization involves the worldwide transmission—or permeation—of local, regional, national, and international affairs through the commercial, political, ideological, and technological media mechanisms. Through the concept of globalization, “education policies interact with political, economic, social and cultural changes” (Wang and Kuo, 2009, p. 14). Research has shown that our own “society is increasingly shaped by a transnational flow of ideas, culture, and capital” (Parks, 2009, p. 194). The fluidity of ideas globally creates and establishes fosters an informational milieu in which visual literacy may evolve.

Presently in the 21st century, “visual literacy have assumed the existence of a visual language as an avenue for learning and understanding images and have argued that interpreting visual images is as important as learning verbal language” (Lin, 2009, 198). The concept of visual literacy developed under the direction of philosopher Nelson Goodman, who, in his 1968 Language of Art, employed “the metaphor of art as language and works of art as symbols in a symbolic system” (Lin, 2009, p.198). Since Goodman’s original coinage of visual literacy in 1968, the concept of visual literacy has transformed due to the evolution of the understanding, application, and need for visual literacy over the decades. Through globalization, there was a visible “shift in art language, a shift that encompasses the social and the political in far more explicit ways since they point to the conditions under which contemporary art and visual culture is produced” (Garoian & Gaudelius, 2009, p. 143). Artistically speaking, “easy universal tourism, artist mobility (grants and residencies), and the explosion of information technologies (books, the Internet, movies) have made images from all cultural traditions part of a global visual cultural experience and, therefore, part of our shared human image bank” (Marshall, 2009, p.92). Thus, the utility (and prominence) of visual literacy will only further expand as the ability to collaborate, disseminate, and proliferate material increases in speed, rate, and consistency.

Through the advancement and evolution of technology, people of an increasingly diverse backgrounds are able to have efficient interactions via new-age communication devices across the globe (Chung, 2009, p.186). Cyberspaces are being developed among the digital communities in order to fill the void of global and intercultural competencies. According to Marshall (2009), “global art helps us to understand the hybridity and complexity of today’s world; it is in the images of art (not in corporate visual culture) that the nuances of complex connectivity are mined and revealed” (p.89). Thus, new technologies are collapsing borders globally and creating a space where people of all ages, classes, genders, religions, and interest are able to discuss, collaborate, and interact with a variety of issues (Parks, 2009, p. 194).

According to Lin (2009), “[t]his ability to communicate visually is said to have become imperative in a digitally mediated society, not only because people’s lives are conditioned by the visual but because electronic technologies accelerate the use of visual and multimedia communications globally, in ways that necessitate attention to student skills in critical thinking and meaning-making” (p. 199). Thus, evolving revolutionary technologies are transforming the education system globally. For “as the world becomes increasingly visual and global, and as educators recognize the need for global and intercultural competencies, the potential for cyberspace to shape intercultural understanding becomes more prominent in our thinking” (Parks, 2009, 193). Thus, there is becoming ever more of a drive for implementing technology into the curriculum and academia of the generation natives.

The concept of globalization does not just impact the culture educationally, but as a whole because “globalization involves the technological revolution in pursuit of global technocapitalism, which has a tremendous impact on local economies, polities, societies, cultures, education, and individual experiences” (Chung, 2009, p. 186). Technocapitalism by definition is the monetary worth and change via introduction to revolutionary technological advancements. Presently, there is a positive correlation between revolutionary technology, and increase in revenue, and technocapitalism.

According to Garoian & Gaudelius (2009), “[c]omplex social, political, and economic networks of transnationalism share these attributes…while differing in how globalization deploys critical interventions as corporate forms of management and control guised as democratic practice” (p. 143). Through the history of Taiwan, researchers are able to see the direct impact that social, political, and economic networks have on the globalization, localization, and identity of a country. Presently, Taiwan “struggles for interethnic harmony, ‘national’ identity, and political setbacks in the internal community” (Wang & Kuo, 2008). It is the very migrations and changes politically, economically, and socially that have created and allowed for a diverse nation that lacks any form of consciousness or mindfulness of national identity.

A prime example of the effects of globalization on a culture is that of the Bush Negro People of Suriname. According to Jiesamfoek (2009) “the new lifestyle in the city that money has made possible, combined with the exposure of Bush Negro youth to global culture via electronic media , continues to influence how Bush Negro people process and transform new impressions” (p. 30). According to Steers (2009), “what appears as globalization for some means localization for others; signaling a new freedom for some, upon many others it descends as an uninvited and cruel fate” (Steers, 2009, 314). Thus, the media and global networks are able to create a false record about the society in which globalization is destroying through the concept of global unification (Price & Price, 1992, p. 38).

Definitions/Key Concepts

Globalization is a term that is defined as the “intermixing and interpenetration of global and local phenomena, which involve the imposition of the global onto the local and/or local adaptations of global trends and entities” (Marshall, 2009, p.89).

Digital communities is a term indicating a technological forum or internet space that allows for artistic development and networking as proposed by Weida (2009). “Refer to groups of people who learn, share, and discuss their work in the crafts online, and the often problematic category of crafts to categorize objects described as such by their makers” (Weida, 2009, p. 111). These alternative spaces become a forum in which educators, students, parents, etc. are able to treat as another form of enrichment through web exchanges, online forums, and other social media platforms (Weida, 2009). Louis advises artistic growth as phases rather than stages in order to avoid a rigid concept and to offer more variation for individual development. Studying a rich, detailed record of a child’s artwork over a period of time, according to Wolf (1988), also allows better understanding of the thought processes. “Words, fonts, backgrounds, colors, and images can give each communal space a very different feel. While some of these communities do not continually or solely exist socially in physical space (rather the connection is found online), groups may still perceive their socialization as taking place in a space and defend their rights to define and delineate their space” (Weida, 2009, p. 112-113).

Cyberspace is a term Parks (2009) uses to describe the “whole range of information resources accessed through computer networks (p. 193). 21st century scholars preach for a need to fill the void of global and intercultural competencies. According to Parks (2009), “the potential for cyberspace to shape intercultural understanding becomes more prominent in our thinking…[and it is necessary to understand] the implications of new technologies for art education and recognize that they require new are of knowing and instruction” (p. 193).

Reflection

The authors both affirm and yet challenge my understanding, apprehensions, and confidence that globalization will have on the 21st century learners, educators, politicians, psychologists, the medical field, and capitalism locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. It is virtually impossible to synthesize globalism to a “one-size-fits-all” classification. Every culture is different, every person is unique, and every place has its own history. As the present projections have shown, the future of the generation natives will be technologically advance than that of our present generation. It is our duty as educators to develop, and create a foundation that will assist in promoting a generation that will evolve at the pace of the technology. Through my teaching experience, I have found that my own students are more tech-savvy than myself. It is my job as an educator to keep up with the ever advancing academia, and promote an educational atmosphere where learning is encouraged and students are globally-conscious.

References

Chung, S. K. (2009). Art education and cybermedia spectacles in the age of globalization. In E. M. Delacruz, A. Arnold, M. Parsons, and A. Kuo, (Eds.), Globalization, art, and education (pp. 186-192). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Delacruz, E. M. (2011). Mapping the Terrain: Globalization, art, and education. In E. M. Delacruz, A. Arnold, M. Parsons, and A. Kuo, (Eds.), Globalization, art, and education (pp. x-xviii). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Garoian, C. R., & Gaudelius, Y. M. (2009). Transnational visual culture: Indecipherable narratives and pedagogy. In E. M. Delacruz, A. Arnold, M. Parsons, and A. Kuo, (Eds.), Globalization, art, and education (pp. 142-150). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Jiesamfoek, H. (2009). Effects of globalization on the arts practices of the Bush Negro people of Suriname. In E. M. Delacruz, A. Arnold, M. Parsons, and A. Kuo, (Eds.), Globalization, art, and education (pp. 27-34). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Kim, H. (2009). Globalization and cultural diversity: Shifts in the cultural terrain in Korea. In E. M. Delacruz, A. Arnold, M. Parsons, and A. Kuo, (Eds.), Globalization, art, and education (pp. 20-26). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Lin, C. C. (2009). Beyond visual literacy competencies: Teaching and learning art with technology in the global age. In E. M. Delacruz, A. Arnold, M. Parsons, and A. Kuo, (Eds.), Globalization, art, and education (pp. 198-204). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Marshall, J. (2009). Globalization and contemporary art. In E. M. Delacruz, A. Arnold, M. Parsons, and A. Kuo, (Eds.), Globalization, art, and education (pp. 88-96). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Parks, N.S. (2009). Facilitating intercultural competencies in cyberspace. In E. M. Delacruz, A. Arnold, M. Parsons, and A. Kuo, (Eds.), Globalization, art, and education (pp. 193-197). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Price, R., & Price, S. (1992) Equatoria. New York: Routledge

Steers, J. (2009). Some reflections on globalizing (visual) culture. In E. M. Delacruz, A. Arnold, M. Parsons, and A. Kuo, (Eds.), Globalization, art, and education (pp. 314-322). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Wang, L.Y., & Kuo, A. (2009). Glocalization: art education in Taiwan. In E. M. Delacruz, A. Arnold, M. Parsons, and A. Kuo, (Eds.), Globalization, art, and education (pp. 14-19). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Wang, W. (2009). Sculpting the sky: The art and culture of Weifang International Kite Festival. In E. M. Delacruz, A. Arnold, M. Parsons, and A. Kuo, (Eds.), Globalization, art, and education (pp. 41-46). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Weida, C.L. (2009). Subversively discursive digital communities of contemporary craft. In E. M. Delacruz, A. Arnold, M. Parsons, and A. Kuo, (Eds.), Globalization, art, and education (pp. 111-117). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.